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DivX targets the mobile video market

by Scott Bicheno on 12 November 2010, 16:51

Tags: DivX

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Mobile move

"Not being certified could mean issues with playback, user experience, etc," said Bierstein. There are different levels of DivX certification, but OEMs get access to extra features, such as fast-forward, subtitles, etc. They also get the SDK, OS agnostic help with integration and a test kit.

Noting the Galaxy Tab being used as the exemplar device, we asked how big a deal the tablet market is for DivX. "The mobile device market is still developing, especially with regard to video," said Bierstein, but made it clear that DivX sees tablets as a massive opportunity and is keen to establish itself quickly.

While the level of compression is about average for a video codec, fully licensed DivX integrated into the silicon can offer an additional 30 percent power saving. So it was no surprise to hear that Qualcomm is a major licensee, as well as Samsung, LG, Motorola and Pantech. Right now Android and Symbian are the two mobile OSs you're most likely to fnd it on.

The other USP Bierstein was keen to highlight is continuity of user experience across devices and platforms. "Our fastest-growing area right now is digital television," he said. One innovation we're starting to see in this area is digital downloads sold bundled with DVD/Blu-ray. These are DRM-protected, of course, but you can register up to six devices to play them back on.

While I came away from our interview with a much better idea of DivX's business model, and what it offers tech manufacturers, I'm still not sure what I make of it as a consumer. The DivX logo might possibly be a deal-breaker if I'm choosing between two devices that are otherwise identical, but that's about it.

However, in talking to me DivX was trying to communicate with OEMs as much as end-users. If it succeeds in persuading the industry that it's the default video codec, then it won't matter what end-users think, because they'll get it regardless.

 



HEXUS Forums :: 2 Comments

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What's the difference between DivX HD (which the Galaxy Tab supports) and DivX Plus HD? Neither the Samsung or DivX websites mention this.
aceuk
What's the difference between DivX HD (which the Galaxy Tab supports) and DivX Plus HD? Neither the Samsung or DivX websites mention this.
DivX Plus HD uses the MKV container format (AKA Matroska instead of an AVI or MPEG container. It is a better container with less waste than older formats, so the same file will be a couple of percent smaller. The container also supports multiple audio, subtitle and even video tracks in one file which the older formats don't

The thing about DivX is that it is just a brand name for an encoder and decoder, of standard MPEG-4 or H264 streams. There is not much different about the files it creates from any other encoder. From my testing the encodes it produces are not bad, but the open source encoders (XviD and x264) are better for absolute quality, or if you need speed, then a hardware encoder is best (at the expense of quality).

DivX is just a brand, and to claim that they are better than others like claiming that Shell petrol is better than Esso petrol. It might be, but seeing as all petrol sold meets the same standard (BS EN 228:2008), and has to be usable by all cars any differences will be slight. In the same way all H264 encoded video needs to be playable on all players, so the encoder can't stray from the standard as otherwise playback will become a problem.

Back to the subject of Video on mobile phones, The company I work specialises on doing video to mobile phones, and we have setup a live streaming demo at:

www.tv2mobile.mobi

Please point your mobile phone web browser at that URL, and let me know what you think. The demo supports iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, and also most recent Android devices. It won't work over Vodafone (they block video streaming), and you will need good 3G reception, or your home WiFi.

The videos are encoded with x264 at 300 Kbits/sec with AAC audio. The bitrate is about 2 Mb/minute so be careful not to use up all your quota of data from your mobile network.

If you do watch the live video streams, then please let me know what you think and what device you where using.

Enjoy.